Various x Reader Oneshots

Surprise (John Egbert; Homestuck)

Warning: Mild cussing

John stared at the girl sitting beneath the shade of a tree from across him. Her (color) hair framed her blank face, her legs splayed out and her nose in a book. She was quiet and never twitched a muscle as if a mannequin in a window display. The only sign of life in her was her eyes lighting up at every turn of the page.

John knows her. Her name is (Name) and she sits next to him in their classes most of the time. The both of them are friends for as long as he can remember and he never failed to make her laugh with his jokes and pranks. There was something bothering him about her right now.

One day, a day John can't remember, she didn't laugh at any of his jokes nor the pranks he pulled on his other friends. Hell, not even a twitch of her lips when she saw a bucket fall on Karkat's head and watched him scream profanities and threats at John.

It was odd coming from the girl who always smiled and laughed. For the next few days, John witnessed (Name) speak in hushed tones; keep a straight face on the whole day; and talk with brief sentences. The weirdest thing is that she doesn't open her mouth wide at all, unlike the times she would burst out laughing at every attempt he made.

Worry crept over his heart like vines, squeezing his heart whenever he failed to make a reaction out of her. She still hangs out with him and the others, but John missed her smile and laugh: the two things that made him feel light after a hard day.

"Yo, John. You're going to scare away (Name) with that stare of yours." An arm draped itself over his shoulder. John glanced at the owner of the arm. Dave stood beside him with his other hand shoved in his pants pocket. John, looking at him blankly, retorted, "I wasn't staring, Dave."

"It's worrying that (Name) hasn't shown an ounce of mirth on her face these past few days," Rose said, sitting beside Jade on the bench the four of them are around. Jade pushed her glasses up and pursed her lips. "Yeah. I wonder what happened? It's kind of making me nervous..."

John didn't know the answer to that either; and to think he was her childhood friend.

"Hey, (Name)." Said girl hummed, her attention shifting from her homework to John seated across from her. Both of them are sprawled on the floor, littered with books and notes for their Algebra homework. (name) lied flat on her stomach with her elbow pinning down one of her books as she solved the problems on a spare sheet while John sat cross-legged, writing with the paper on top of his book.

It's been a few days after the little conversation he had with Dave, Rose, and Jade about her, and it's been bothering John non-stop ever since. He kept thinking about it the whole time in class and it's making him sick with worry. What would make her stop smiling and laughing all of a sudden? No one had a clue, even Roxy, who (Name) trusted her every secret with aside from him.

His mind was clouded with doubt and fear, thinking of so many reasons why it happened. Thoughts like "Did I do something wrong?" and "Why isn't she telling me?" were the most frequent ones popping up in his mind. John never really thought much about it until then, and it's killing him that he might be the reason she was like this. So he gathered his courage and tried to ask her.

Keyword: TRIED

Once the (color)-haired girl looked up, his mind went blank and he blurted out, "Uh, can you help me with problem number 16?"

"Stupid, stupid, stupid!" John mentally cursed himself, trying hard not to grimace at his own failure, as (Name) leaned closer and peered at his paper and started to teach him with her mouth barely wide enough for words. "That was the lamest excuse you can come up with, you derp!"